Design team make....Wall Plaque and Cushion Cover

Hello everyone..Genny here. I wanted to share my two makes with you this week. The first one is a plaque that I have made using a MDF blank. I kept seeing these words on lots of home decor items and thought..I could do that..lol. I first began with the blank plaque and painted it with some light green acrylic paint. I then added some torn papers..the paper was from a pad from the selection here at JB-Crafting Supplies. I then inked the edges with distress ink in a green..I do have a bit of a thing for green..as I'm sure you all know by now..lol. The letters that I used on the plaque were from an alphabet that I've had lurking in my stash for a couple of years..but I'm sure that Julie could source some for you. I finally added some die cut flowers from my stash. If you don't have a diecutting machine you can of course make your own flowers in any way you like. There are lots of templates out there...looking through my stash, I have a few that I had totally forgotten about. I'm going to put this plaque on the wall in my parlour.

And now for my second make...I just had to share the story with you all. The picture is of a cushion cover that has only taken 40 years to finish. My Grandmother began this in the 1960's and I can remember her sitting sewing it. Sadly my Grandmother died in the 70's and all her embroidery got packed away..boxes of half finished projects. Now my Mother was a hoarder and all the boxes of embroidery and sewing moved house with her about 5 times. She passed away in 2004 and I had the job of sorting all her belongings and I moved the boxes to my house. Well I decided that the time had come to go through the final boxes that had been in my loft for the last 12 years. I went through the remaining boxes and came upon the box of my Grandmothers sewing. I had to smile..there was pieces of Crimplene..the wonder fabric of the 60's and 70's..and they are so in trend now..lol. The colours are as vibrant as ever..I may even make a top up using some of it. I also found lots of rolls of daisy edging and rick rack edging..I can remember it on my dresses. Then I dug deeper and found this cushion cover..half finished but with all the threads still in the bag. So I finished it and it's now about to sit on my couch. You can tell where I've stitched because the thread edges can be seen..where as where my Grandmother had stitched they have sort of blended. But as I look at it..it takes me back to the days when I was a little girl, sitting talking to my Grandmother whilst she stitched. Happy memories. So if you have anything that has been sitting around for a while, I would encourage you to finish it.

Next week I will be sharing another wonderful Pinflair kit with you all. So until then...take care and happy crafting.

Design team make..The Wishing House

Hello everyone..Genny here. Following last weeks dot decorated frame and door hanger, I decided to decorate this house shape and create a gift..a wishing house. I had seen one done before and thought it would make a lovely gift. The house shape itself was cheaply bought and I began by giving it two coats with acrylic paint in a bluebell shade. I then used my dot painting technique on the sides and the roof slants.

I then thought what wishes I would like to give to my friend. I made paper shapes which I wrote the different wishes on...love,laughter,peace,joy.etc. I then used a distress ink to blend on the paper and stamped on every piece with a small leaf stamp. I have yet to add the little ornaments to it. One that I'm going to make is a little bottle with some glitter in it..so she never loses her sparkle. Thinking on the same lines I may add some marbles so she never loses them as well. A bit of fun that will make her smile...what more could you want in a present to give to a friend.

As I said last week..all you need to do the dotting is available from Julie here at JB-Crafting Supplies. Acrylic paints and a couple of ball tools is all you need. I have bought all my acrylics from Julie and they are perfect to use on projects such as this. Keep you eyes out for blank shapes that you can buy and paint on..or look at things that you have in your home that you can alter. So until next week..take care and happy crafting. 

Design team make...Another Tag..Another Tale

 Hello everyone...Genny here again.For this weeks make I decided to make another tag. This one continues the story of my Grandmother. I so enjoyed making last weeks, that I decided to do another. I began by covering the tag itself with some more of the beautiful paper from the set brought to us by Craftwork cards..the shabby vintage range. Both the tags and the papers are available from Julie here at JB crafting Supplies. To to be the basis of the tag I stamped this old english prayer which was from my stash but very much was the way that my Grandmother lived her life. No matter how busy she was, she always made time for her friends.

I can always remember when they got together to put the world to rights..lol. I remember the scents that they wore and their pretty dresses. Quite often when they got together they brought their sewing along and you would see their needles flashing as they chattered and laughed. That gave me the idea of the pansies. They are from a rubber stamp set by Joanna Sheen called embroidered flowers. The whole sheet of stamps reminds me of all the table cloths,chair backs and tray cloths that they spent many hours on. I am lucky enough to have many of the pieces myself and have sewn some myself to add to the collection. So in thinking of these, I stamped out the pansies and the leaves and coloured them with my promarkers, cut them out and used them to edge the prayer. For the base of the tag I used some lace stamps from my stash, then coloured them to match and then added them to the tag. Finally I added a bow and a butterfly and dragonfly.

Now as I look at the tag, I see the ladies with their sewing in my minds eye, their sewing on their laps, the laughter of their stories and as fanciful as it may seem, am transported back to a happy place. This is one of the fantastic things about tag art..it doesn't too long and you can build your own story or a simple memory...whatever you like. I even fancy having a go at one featuring one of my cats..I may do that one over the next couple of weeks.

Next week I will be working with another wonderful stamp from the Stampendous range. Julie has a wonderful collection of stamps in the range of crafting goodies she has instore.If you ever have any questions about anything that I have made..please just get in touch via Julies facebook page and I will be more than happy to get back to you. So until next week...take care and happy crafting.

Design Team make..The Tag with a Tale to Tell

As it says in the title..this is a tag with a tale to tell. Tag art has really taken off in the crafting world and I have to say I love it. Many people would love to try scrap booking but are daunted by the size of the blank pages. If you fancy having a go..why not try telling a story on a tag.My tag is one that I put together in memory of my Grandmother and I began by going through my stash and finding things that reminded of her. I first covered the tag with a sheet of paper from the Craftworkcards..Shabby Vintage paper pads which is available from Julie here at JB Crafting-Supplies. I have two of the packs..one is pink shades and the other is blue and there are 12 papers in the pack. The one that I chose to work with is covered with sewing related pictures. As my Grandmother was an avid seamstress, I thought it would be a perfect start. There are many items on the tag which relate to her life..buttons,and lace because her sewing room always had them. I remember reels of lace and her button box. The button box was a treasure trove to me as a little girl and in fact I still have it. I only have to open the lid and am transported back to being a little girl. I put the banner on because my Grandmother was always involved with the carnival and everyone would gather at the farm to make the float. The saying always reminds me of her and her advice to trust in what you were doing and it would always be okay. I have added roses to represent her rose garden which she tended with great love but also a daisy to highlight her love of nature. She taught me to recognise all the wild flowers. I added a gardening glove and fork to tell of her time spent gardening. The two final items are the butterflies and the pearl strand. She loved butterflies and moths and I have her collection of reference books. And finally is the strand of pearls..she always wore a set no matter what she was doing..from digging in her gardens, working with the animals or cooking. They sit on my dressing table as a daily reminder of her love.
I know you may find it odd for me to write about all these memories on my design team make but I wanted to share with you my thought process while I was creating this tag. I intend to frame it alongside a photo of my Grandmother, And then I intend to work with the blue papers and make one for my Grandfather. I thought that they would look good together as a pair. Why not have a go yourself..you could do one for your grandchildren, your pets, your house or your hobbies. Tags also make great books. Cutting hols in the side and using some rings, you could add as many tags as you need.
Well I hope that you made sense of it all. When I make the one for my Grandfather, I will share it with you. For all your crafting needs please take a look at Julies shop. As I always say it is an Aladdins cave of crafting goodies. So until next week..take care and happy crafting.

Cards Made For Adele's Birthday!

This is a photo of our Kitty, which I made into a birthday card for Adele.

This card was made for Grandma Eileen for Adele.

This card was made for Grandma Betty to give to Adele.

and this card was made for Jake to give to Adele!

Happy 18th Birthday to our lovely daughter, Adele!

Julie

Wentworth!

We went to the Farmers Market yesterday and I bought some lovely apple & pork sausages, preserves and vegetables. Then we went for a walk to look for conkers, I did say to Jake that I though it was a bit early but he did find some in the wood.

Julie

Back to school!

Well the day has finally arrived and Jake has gone back to school. I think he has been looking forward to this day. Doesn't he look smart in his new uniform? We had to have the traditional first day of school photo despite all the moans and groans! He has gone from a school which had about 400 children to a school with just over 2000, it's a large school!
Adele started college on Monday and she is doing a two year Art & Design course and I went back to work yesterday.

I am busy making my Christmas cards at the moment and I would like them all finished and ready to post on the 1st Dec Uk and Nov over seas.

Oh no it looks like it is going to rain yet again!

Have a good day!
Julie

Our Robot!

As promised here is a photo of Jake with the robot we made last week while doing the family learning course at his new school.
We have two motors to make it move and a light in his red gun.
It was a fun week!

See you soon
Julie

Sorry It's been so long!

Hi everyone, I am so sorry for not posting sooner but this has been a very busy time for me this year. I have been very busy with work, family, summer fair at school, card classes and getting things ready for our holiday. It was our 25th Wedding Anniversary last week and Kevin and myself went on holiday for a week on our own!

But more about that in another post!

What a busy week!

Well it certainly has been a busy week for me and no time for crafting. It has been half term here for my children and they have been quite busy this week. I have been catching up on some housework and once you start cleaning you seem to find more things that need doing!

Adele had a Halloween party and I will post photos at the weekend. So tonight I thought I would post my photos of Halloween.






















































Adele did a pumpkin carving as she had a large one, which looked very effective and Jake carved a face on his as he only had a small pumpkin. The photo is a bit unsharp but it was the best I could do in the dark.

Enjoy!

Walk Around the Lake

Well today started off with rain and I thought we were in for a bad day but then the sun came out.
Jake and Adele went off out to the pictures for the day so Kevin and myself thought we would go for a walk around the local lake and here are some off the pictures I took.










Hope you enjoy looking at these photos, we had a fab day on our own. When you have children you don't get much time to yourself so you have to make the most of it.

see you soon!

First day in the 6th form

This is my daughter Adele and today was her first day in the 6th form. She only found out her G.C.S.E. results on Monday so it has been a mad rush to buy everything ready for today. She did not want a blazzer but a nice black fitted jacket, looks better in the flesh.

First day back at school!

Here we are end of the summer holidays and the first day back to school for Jake. He is in the last year of the juniors and I had to let him go to school on his own today. I have to admit I was not very happy about this but he has only one small road to cross but it is quite busy. He has been pestering me for months to let him go to school on his own and now he has. I think I worry more about him as he is my baby and the youngest of four. I will get to see him at lunch time when I go to work.

Look what I found in my garden today!

This cheeky little squirrel is eating all the nuts I put out for the birds. I now have two empty nut bags.

enjoy!